Air lock and conveyer system



April 1, 1930. w. D. PHILIPS AIR LOCK AND CONVEYER SYSTEM Filed May 15, 1926 mgzm w Patented Apr. 1, 1930 UNITED STATES WILLIAM I). PHILIPS, F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK AIR LOCK AND CONVEYIER SYSTEM Application filed May 13,

My invention relates to improvements in air locks and conveyer systems especially adapted for subjecting bodies or materials to a special atmosphere, as for instance a-dry room or a cooling room, in such a waythat the bodies or articles under treatment can be made to enter and leave the treating room without noticeable loss of the treated atmosphere, and in such a way that the articles under treatment will be packed as closely as desired in the treating room. My invention is also intended to produce an exceedingly simple apparatus which can be easily applied to any treating room, and which can operate without switches or special mechanism. For example assuming that my system is to be applied to a dry room in which air is maintained under a definite condition of moisture and temperature, instead of introducing the 29 article to be treated to this room through doors which open and permit much of the treated air to escape, I use air locks at the ingress and egress parts of the room or oven,

' which comprise plural compartments out of alignment with each other, and if trucks are used as usual in such cases, I provide a separate track for each series of trucks, which tracks pass through the plural compartments of the air lock and through the treating room,

and thus a plural series of trucks or carriers are moved through the air lock, and as they enter or leave the treating room, they come into substantial alignment so that they may be packed with desired closeness.

By this arrangement the trucks or conveyers which pass through the air lock may be spaced apart sufiiciently to permit them to pass through the appropriate compartments, and have the doors open and close behind them in a way to complete the seal, and the conveyers on each track can be spaced comparatively far apart as they pass through the air lock, but as the tracks of the two compartments converge into the treating room, for example, the carrierslor conveyers of the two tracks will be brought into substantial align- .ment and close proximity. In this way I economize space and obviate the need of a lot of special mechanism which is generally employed in such structures. The apparatus 1926. Serial No. 108,990.

and its working will be better understood from the description which follows.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts inall the views.

Figure 1 is a broken diagrammatic plan of the apparatus embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is a detail diagrammatic plan of one of the air locks, showing the position of the conveyers or carriers as they pass through the lock. r

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 but with the carrying members in a different positlon.

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figures 2 and 3 with the carriers or conveyers in still another position.

Figure 5 is a sectional elevation showing. one way of moving a conveyer member, and

Figure 6 is a broken side elevation of the structure shown in Figure 5.'

In carrying out my invention I use air locks 1010 at the inlet and outlet of the oven or treating room, and instead of having air locks with a single compartment, I provide each with plural compartments 11 and 12, arranged side by side, and these connect through a reduced passageway'lt with the treating room 13, which can be an oven or any room in which a special atmosphere is maintained; The compartments 11 y and 12 are separated by a partition 18, and they are provided with a plurality of spaced swinging doors 15, 16 and 17, which are arranged in pairs, and which are self closing. For example they may have the customary spring hinges, and they are spaced apart so that each pair will be substantially the length of the conveying member from the next pair.

For the trucks or conveying members I arrange two pairs of tracks 19 and 20 which are parallel as they pass through the oven 13, but which as theypass through the air lock 10-10 are spreadas shown clearly in Figure 1, so that the track 19 will pass through the compartment 11 of the air lock, and the track 20 will pass through the air lock 12, but after passing through the air locks, the tracks again converge so that as they pass through member 23 returning in one direction, while the upper member 23 moves in the opposite direction. I wish to make it clear that the carrier mechanism forms no part of the invention, and I have shown merely a conven tional arrangement, and such an arrangement is usually provided with means for regulating its speed and controlling it generally.

It is well understood in the art of handling trucks on rails by means of power driven cables to construct cross-overs so that there would be no interference between the cables and the rails at the cross-overs; for example see the following patents: 265,273 Myers 1882; 347,782 Endres 1886; 368,668 Heverling 1887; 387,994 Pendleton 1888; and 395,809 Bradley 1889.

Any difliculty with cross-overs could also be avoided by not having the power driven chains cross the tracks, propulsion of the cars at the cross-overs being efiected by gravity, the tracks being slightly inclined at the several cross-overs so that they will roll over the cross-overs by gravitywithout the necessity of being pulled over the cross-overs by the power driven chains.

Thus it will be seen that trucks 21 can be arranged on the tracks 19 and 20 and need not be in very close relation, but can be spaced apart as desired. Usually they will be placed on the tracks so that there will be about the distance of a truck length between them as they enter the air lock 10, but as they leave the air lock 10 and enter the treating room 13, they will naturally be brought into close relation. By spacing them apart on the track the structure works to particularly good advantage. 9

In Figure 2 it'will be seen that one truck '21 is partly through the compartment 12 on the track 20, and another is entering the compartment 11 on the track 19, while another I is leaving the compartment 11. As a truck approaches a pair of.doors 15, for example,

it will open the doors by pressing against them, and the doors 16 and 17 will be sealed, thus sealing the treating room 13, and by the time the truck has passed through the doors 16 and before it opens the doors 17, the doors 15 will be closed behind it, and as a truck passes through the doors 16 both the doors 15 and 17 will be closed, so that as it passes through the air look there is always at least a common treating room alternately. is done by simply arranging the conveyers one pair of sealed doors, and therefore there is no appreciable loss of conditioned air in the room 13.

Where single compartment air locks have been used it is practically impossible to effect this result, and in attempts to do it, expensive and rather complicated mechanism is necessary, and this also causes a loss on the lines of travel of the space required to close the doors after truck or object has passed, but by havingthe plural compartments in the air lock, and the separate tracks for separate series of conveying members or trucks, the diflicultyis obviated, no switches are necessary, and by usingordinary judgment in spacing the trucks onthe tracks, they are carried through as specified, maintaining a substantial seal, and still come into close relation in the room 13, so that not only is the expense and difliculty of control mechanism referred to avoided, but a great economy of space in the treating room is effected.

From the foregoing description it will be clear that the important thing in the invention is the arrangement of the air locks with plural non-aligning compartments with a series of self closing doors, preferably three in number in each compartment, and with separate tracks, to the end that switching and other controlling mechanism may be avoided.

In Figures 5 and 6 I have shown diagrammatically bodies 24 being carried by the trucks 21, but it will be clearly understood that the articles or materials to be treated can be varied indefinitely without affecting the principle of the invention, that the carrying mechanism itself is unimportant, and any usual or preferred kind can be used for moving the articles under treatment through the air locks and through the room 13.

I have described how the air lock 10 operates as the members 21 are carried through it, and the lock 10 operates in exactly the same way, only this is at the egress of the room 13 instead of the ingress.

I have shown the air lock having compart ments 11 and 12 side by side and in close relation, and this is the preferred arrangement, but it will be understood that the important thing is to have the plural compartments out of alignment, and they may even be of clifferent elevations if desired, so long as the tracks that run through them converge into 'close proximity in the treating room.

It will be understood that in working the system,the plural air lock chambers feed to This and the bodies carried by them so that a body will issue from the chamber 11, for example, and the next one from the chamber 12, the third from the chamber 11, and so on, and this makes it easy for the bodiesto be treated to pass in a normal way through the plural air locks and come into close proximity in the common treating room.

I claim 1. A system of the kind described comprising a treating room, air looks at the ingress and egress of the treating room, each air lock comprising a plurality of compartments out of alignment and with a plurality of self closing doors, and conveying means passing through the plural compartments of the air lock and converging into proximity in the treating room.

2. An apparatus of the kind described com prising a treating room, an air lock connecting with the treating room, said lock comprising a plurality of compartments out of alignment and each provided with a plurality of spaced swinging doors, means for alternately moving bodies through the compartments of the air lock, and means for bringing such bodies into close proximity in the treating room.

3. An apparatus of the kind described comprising a treating room, air locks forming inlets and outlets to the treating room, each air lock comprising a plurality of compartments arranged side by side and with a series of spaced swinging doors to close each compartment, means for moving bodies through the compartments, means for bringing such in each compartment, and separate tracks extending through the compartments and merging into proximity in the treating room. 8. An apparatus of the kind described com prising a common treating room, a plurality of separated-air lock compartments'arranged side by side, and means for feeding bodies through the several air lock compartments and converging into close proximity and substantial alignment in the treating room.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification this 11th day of May, 1926.

WILLIAM D. PHILIPS.

bodies into proximity in thetreating room as they leave the inlet air lock, and means for separating such bodies as they enter the outlet air lock.

4. An apparatus of the kind described comprising a treating room, an air lock therefor having a plurality of compartments arranged side by side, a plurality of spaced swinging doors for each compartment, and conveying mechanism extending through each compartment and with the members thereof converging within the treating room.

5. An apparatus of the kind described comprising a treating room, an air lock therefor connected therewith and comprising a plurality of compartments arranged side by side with swinging doors spaced apart in each compartment, and separate tracks extending through the compartments and merging into proximity in the treating room.

6. An apparatus of the kind described comprising a common treating room, an air lock connected with the treating room and having a plurality of compartments arranged side by side, swinging doors for each compartment arranged near the ends and middle portion thereof, and conveying mechanism passing through each compartment of the airlock and converging into close connection withinthe treating room.

7 An apparatus of the kind described comprising a treating room, an air lock therefor connected therewith and comprising a plurality of compartments out of alignment with each other with swinging doors spaced apart 

